Time Boot.Fans of Kendra might remember one of Ratchet’s first inventions, the Time Boots. The boots were meant to take the wearer back in time. They sort of work. Unfortunately, Ratchet designed the boots so that their long curly toes pointed backwards, which meant that the user kept bumping into himself coming the other way.

I kind of feel like I’ve been bumping into myself lately, trying to sort out this plot for Kendra Kandlestar IV. I’ve been going around in circles, trying to write myself out of a corner. There have been some sleepless nights.

The challenge I’m running into is to keep everything on track and not contradict anything that’s happened before, while at the same time propelling the characters and plot forward. This being the fourth book in the series, I’ve taken on the ambitious task of trying to cover many different eras of time in the Een world and to set up for a grand finale that I hope to accomplish in Book 5.

Well, I think I’ve finally got it all mapped out. Literally. See, here’s a snapshot of the very complicated flowchart I assembled this week on my trusty iMac:

Time line

This chart probably looks pretty confusing. It is. Hopefully, it represents the intricate workings of my brilliant plot. Either that or the ramblings of a madman. I’ll let YOU be the judge of that once your read the book.

Of course, I have to finish it before that can happen. So off to work I go . . .